SB 123--
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SENATE BILL No. 123
By Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
1-28
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AN ACT concerning regulation of discharges of sewage; amending K.S.A. 65-164 and 65-165 and repealing the existing sections. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas: Section 1. K.S.A. 65-164 is hereby amended to read as follows: 65- 164. (a) No person, company, corporation, institution or municipality shall place or permit to be placed or discharge or permit to flow into any of the waters of the state any sewage, except as hereinafter provided. This act shall not prevent the discharge of sewage from any public sewer sys- tem owned and maintained by a municipality or sewerage company, if such sewer system was in operation and was discharging sewage into the waters of the state on March 20, 1907, but this exception shall not permit the discharge of sewage from any sewer system that has been extended subsequent to such date, nor shall it permit the discharge of any sewage which, upon investigation by the secretary of health and environment as hereinafter provided, is found to be polluting the waters of the state in a manner prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants thereof. (b) For the purposes of this act, ``sewage'' means any substance that contains any of the waste products or excrementitious or other discharges from the bodies of human beings or animals, or chemical or other wastes from domestic, manufacturing or other forms of industry. (c) Whenever a complaint is made to the secretary of health and environment by the mayor of any city of the state, by a local health officer or by a county or joint board of health, complaining of the pollution or of the polluted condition of any of the waters of the state situated within the county within which the city, local health officer or county or joint board of health is located, it shall be the duty of the secretary of health and environment to cause an investigation of the pollution or the polluted condition complained of. Also, whenever the secretary of health and en- vironment otherwise has reason to believe that any of the waters of the state are being polluted in a manner prejudicial to the health of any of the inhabitants of the state, the secretary may initiate an investigation of such pollution. (d) Whenever an investigation is undertaken by the secretary of health and environment, under subsection (c), it shall be the duty of any person, company, corporation, institution or municipality concerned in such pollution to furnish, on demand, to the secretary of health and en- vironment such information as required relative to the amount and char- acter of the polluting material discharged into the waters by such person, company, corporation, institution or municipality. If the secretary of health and environment finds that any of the waters of the state have been or are being polluted in a manner prejudicial to the health of any of the inhabitants of the state, the secretary of health and environment shall have the authority to make an order requiring: (1) Such pollution to cease within a reasonable time; (2) requiring such manner of treatment or of disposition of the sewage or other polluting material as, in the se- cretary's judgment, is necessary to prevent the future pollution of such waters; or (3) both. It shall be the duty of the person, company, corpo- ration, institution or municipality to whom such order is directed to fully comply with the order of the secretary of health and environment. (e) Any action of the secretary pursuant to subsection (d) is subject to review in accordance with the act for judicial review and civil enforce- ment of agency actions. The court on review shall hear the case without delay person, company, corporation, institution or municipality upon whom an order has been imposed pursuant to subsection (d) may appeal to the secretary within 30 days after service of the order. If appealed, a hearing shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Kan- sas administrative procedure act. Sec. 2. K.S.A. 65-165 is hereby amended to read as follows: 65-165. (a) Upon application made to the secretary of health and environment by the public authorities having by law the charge of the sewer system of any municipality, township, county or legally constituted sewer district, or any person, company, corporation, institution, municipality or federal agency, the secretary of health and environment shall consider the case of such a sewage discharge or sewer system, otherwise prohibited by this act from discharging sewage into any of the waters of the state, or the extension of a sewer system and whenever it is the secretary's opinion that the general interests of the public health would be served thereby, or that the discharge of such sewage would not detract from the quality of the waters of the state for their beneficial uses for domestic or public water supply, agricultural needs, industrial needs, recreational needs or other beneficial use and that such discharge meets or will meet all appli- cable state water quality standards and applicable federal water quality and effluent standards under the provisions of the federal water pollution control act and amendments thereto as in effect on January 1, 1989, the secretary of health and environment shall issue a permit for the extension of a sewer system or for the discharge of sewage, or both, and shall stip- ulate in the permit the conditions on which such discharge will be per- mitted and shall require such treatment of the sewage as determined necessary to protect beneficial uses of the waters of the state in accor- dance with the statutes and rules and regulations defining the quality of the water affected by such discharge and may require treatment of the sewage in accordance with rules and regulations predicated upon tech- nologically based effluent limitations. Indirect dischargers shall comply with all applicable pretreatment regulations and water quality standards. (b) If, in the opinion of the secretary of health and environment, issuance of general permits is more appropriate than issuance of individ- ual permits, the secretary may establish, by rule and regulation, proce- dures for issuance of general permits to the following sources and facilities if such sources and facilities involve similar types of operations, discharge the same types of wastes or engage in the same types of sludge use or disposal practices, require similar monitoring requirements or require the same effluent limitations, operating conditions, or standards for sewage sludge use or disposal: (1) A category of point and nonpoint sources of sewage such as storm water; (2) other categories of point and nonpoint sources of sewage; or (3) categories of facilities treating domestic sewage. Availability of general permits shall be limited to areas defined by geo- graphical or political boundaries such as, but not limited to, city, county or state boundaries, state or county roads and highways or natural bound- aries such as drainage basins. The secretary may establish, by rule and regulation, procedures for the issuance, revocation, modification and change, reissuance or termination of general permits in the manner pro- vided by law. (c) Any permit application may be denied and every permit for the discharge of sewage shall be revocable, or subject to modification and change, by the secretary of health and environment, upon notice having been served on the public authorities having, by law, the charge of the sewer system any municipality, township, county or legally constituted sewer district or on the person, company, corporation, institution, mu- nicipality or federal agency owning, maintaining or using the sewage sys- tem. The length of time after receipt of the notice within which the discharge of sewage shall be discontinued may be stated in the permit, but in no case shall it be less than 30 days or exceed two years; if the length of time is not specified in the permit, it shall be 30 days. On the expiration of the period of time prescribed, after the service of notice of denial, revocation, modification or change from the secretary of health and environment, the right to discharge sewage into any of the waters of the state shall cease and terminate, and the prohibition of this act against such discharge shall be in full force, as though no permit had been granted, but a new permit may thereafter again be granted, as herein- before provided. (d) Any permittee or permit applicant upon whom notice of denial, revocation, modification or change has been served pursuant to subsection (c) may appeal to the secretary within 30 days after service of the notice. All permit applications and requests for appeal are subject to the provi- sions of the Kansas administrative procedure act. Sec. 3. K.S.A. 65-164 and 65-165 are hereby repealed. Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the Kansas register.